The 8th Amendment and the death penalty - back on the radar

Back in June, Stephen Breyer, a liberally-minded US Supreme Court justice said that tather than “try[ing] to patch up the death penalty’s legal wounds one at a time”, what is needed is a “full briefing on a more basic question: whether the death penalty violates the constitution.” The death penalty is now only used in a handful of states (some more vigorously than others).